Recordings and even
performances of La clemenza di Tito
were few and far between fifty years
ago and so it is interesting to have
this recording, made under studio conditions
in what is today WDR in Cologne. The
biggest name is of course Nicolai Gedda,
here caught quite early in his career
but already a much-recorded singer after
only three years on the international
circuit. He was a fine Mozartean and
recorded several of the operas on commercial
discs - but as far as I know not this
one , even though one aria was included
in a Mozart recital from a few years
later. It is also mainly for his participation
that this set is of interest to a wider
public. This doesn’t imply that there
couldn’t be other reasons to acquire
it. One such is the conductor. Reading
reviews from his lifetime, and even
later, Joseph Keilberth was rarely regarded
as a "great" conductor, rather
a reliable but middling Kapellmeister.
In later years opinions have changed,
however, not least through his Wagner
recordings from Bayreuth. His Decca
albums of Lohengrin and Der
fliegende Holländer count among
the best. Recently, Testament have issued
the first ever stereo Ring cycle which
has received glowing reviews and even
been hailed as the most recommendable
version ever issued. His Mozartean credentials
are a lesser known quantity, but there
is a companion Zauberflöte
on Capriccio from the same source with
actually more prominent soloists: Josef
Greindl, Rudolf Schock, Wilma Lipp,
Teresa Stich-Randall, Erich Kunz and
others – mouth-watering, isn’t it? If
his conducting has the same characteristics
there as on this Clemenza di Tito,
it must be a lively affair. There is
forward movement from the beginning,
and comparing tempos to Charles Mackerras
on his recent DG set, Keilberth is often
a notch faster and notably so in Sesto’s
second act rondo Deh, per questo
istante solo, where he beats Mackerras
by almost two minutes – and still it
doesn’t sound rushed. Elsewhere the
situation can be reversed but on the
whole his tempo choices make sense.
He lacks the elasticity and lightness
that Mackerras’s chamber orchestra produces
and which is in line with the "modern"
or "authentic" approach. Where
he can’t compete is in sound quality.
The 1955 sound is clean and detailed
and has wide dynamics but the actual
sound is a bit glassy and lacks warmth.

This also affects the
singing. How much is difficult to judge
but even Gedda – the voice I really
know from uncountable recordings – sounds
slightly strained in places and even
atypically pinched in the second act
aria Se all’impero, amici Dei.
His singing is mostly up to what one
expects, his diction impeccable and
his final accompanied recitative, Ma
che giorno è mai questo?
where he forgives everyone, is thrillingly
dramatic. The leading ladies – or female
voices rather – are not on this level.
Hilde Zadek, not too frequently recorded,
has, on this hearing, a metallic edge,
that makes her sound nastier than she
is. She is not always ideally steady
but dramatically she has her moments,
best of all, fortunately, in the recitative
that precedes her big second act rondo,
the one with the basset horn. In the
rondo her slightly acidulous tones are
sharply contrasted to the warm and mellow
instrument. She also sports a surprisingly
full and dark chest-register, always
a touchstone in this cruelly wide-ranging
aria. The trouser role Sesto is allotted
to the even less recorded Ira Malaniuk.
She is rather uneven, but is at her
best in her set piece Parto,
parto in act one.

Of the other singers
the to me unknown Ilse Wallenstein as
Servilia has a crystal-clear light soprano,
that makes one listen every time she
appears, which isn’t too often. Annio
should be another trouser role but here
he is sung by a light tenor, Peter Offermanns,
who sounds rather anaemic in his first
aria but appears much more secure and
with more sap in the voice in the second
one. Gerhard Gröschel, who sings
Publio, has a big, sonorous voice but
not particularly subtle.

As for the production
readers should be warned that all the
recitatives are gone. In a way that’s
no big loss, since they are not by Mozart
anyway – presumably it was his pupil
Süssmayr, he who completed the
Requiem, who wrote them. They
are not very distinguished and there
are a lot of them. In their place, WDR
employed a narrator who – in German
- relates the story, gives some background
and sums up the recitatives; a good
idea for broadcasting purposes. Rolf
Henniger articulates excellently and
the only drawback is that he is so reticent.
He is well modulated but sounds sad
most of the time and makes no attempt
to invest some drama in the narration.
Those who are not fluent in German can
breathe freely when they learn that
all the spoken text is printed in the
booklet – in German and in English translation.
The music is performed complete and
the booklet has extensive historical
notes.

While this set can
never be a first recommendation it has
some good things to offer. Admirers
of Gedda, among whom I count myself,
may be interested in the set. Others
should go to one of the more modern
versions, of which I am very fond of
Mackerras with Magdalena Kozena and
Hillevi Martinpelto, both on good form.

A last question to
Capriccio: how can the box, and the
discs, be marked DDD? Doesn’t the first
D imply that the recording was made
digitally? In 1955?

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